How long had she been bleeding like this? Gabriel clenched his teeth and fought the fear rising inside him. She couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let that happen.
“Get me a blanket off the bed. We’re going to take her to the hospital.”
Libby did as she was told. “What about the ambulance?”
“There isn’t time.” Besides, he didn’t think he could sit around and watch Olivia slowly bleed to death without going crazy. He’d always prided himself on thought before action, but right now, he was thinking of nothing but saving the woman he’d been yelling at no more than three hours earlier.
Forget that. Focus on getting Olivia to the hospital.
He wrapped her lower half in the blanket and scooped her into his arms. His family had arrived in the hallway just outside the suite. He brushed past his father and brother without answering their offers of help. Olivia was his fiancée. His responsibility.
And he blamed himself for her current crisis. Somehow he knew that if he’d been more approachable, if so much pressure hadn’t been brought to bear on her, Olivia might have talked to him about her fertility problems and a safe solution might have been reached.
The limo was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He settled her into the backseat and cradled her body in his lap. Only then did he become aware of the thundering of his heart. The painful pounding in his chest wasn’t caused by carrying her through the palace, but by the sight of her utter stillness and pallor. As the car raced through the palace gates, it finally hit home just how bad this situation was.
“Faster,” he growled to the driver as he hooked his finger around a strand of her blond hair and pulled it away from her lips.
The car’s powerful engine roared as they sped through the city, but the fifteen-minute drive had never felt so long.
Gabriel brushed his lips across Olivia’s forehead and silently pleaded with her to hang on and fight. Like you fought for her? Gabriel tried to tune out the mocking inner voice, but guilt sliced at him.
At the hospital’s emergency entrance, five people in scrubs crowded the car as soon as it stopped. Stewart must have called ahead and warned them he was coming. They got Olivia situated on a stretcher and took her away before he had a chance to say a word. He rushed toward the glass doors in their wake, catching bits of medical jargon as they sped the unconscious woman inside.
He’d expected to be allowed into the treatment room with her, but a nurse blocked his way.
“Let the doctors work,” she said, her
voice kind but firm.
He might have ten inches and eighty pounds on her, but Gabriel sensed that the nurse could stop him if he tried to go past.
“How soon will I know something?”
“I’ll make sure someone keeps you informed.”
“She’s lost a lot of blood,” he said.
“We know.”
She herded him into a private waiting room and offered coffee. Gabriel stared at her, unable to comprehend why this woman was behaving in such a mundane manner while Olivia was down the hall struggling for her life.
“No,” he snapped, and then moderated his tone. “Thank you. All I need is information.”
She nodded and headed off.
Left alone, Gabriel dropped his head into his hands and surrendered to despair. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave him. He wasn’t sure how to step into the future, to become king without her by his side. They would figure a way around her infertility. He recalled his mother’s words. She, too, had struggled to produce the heir her husband so desperately needed. When natural methods had failed, she’d gotten help from specialists. And now, she had four children to show for it.
He and Olivia would find specialists, as well. They would have children together.
“Gabriel?”
A hand touched his shoulder. He lifted his head and stared up into his sister’s face. She touched his cheek and her fingertips came away with a trace of moisture.
“Is she?” Ariana gasped, seeing his expression.
He shook his head, guessing what conclusion she’d leaped to. “They’re working on her now.”
“Any word how she’s doing?”